Maestro I've been thinking a lot about your suggestion that Trump's "insecurities" are his greatest weakness.

This latest go round is a perfect example of why I think his "insecurities" are his greatest strength.

People are now ... literally ... calling Trump a "very stable genius." It doesn't matter that his political opponents are doing it sarcastically. It really doesn't. His supporters aren't.

You're late to the party so you've probably missed my multiple posts pointing out how this is part of a strategy on his part. It's science and marketing.

Trump has now been branded as "Very Stable Genius." And the media helped him do it. Like they always ... crappity smacking ... do. This current flavor of the month Trumphatred will fade in time. What will people remember? What's the takeaway? Very Stable Genius. People will still be associating Trump with that 20 years from now.

This is an example of how thinking Trump's greatest strength is actually his greatest weakness damages the strategy of his opposition. If Trump's opposition is going to continue to be stupid enough to meet him on battlefields of his choosing ... they're going to lose. And that's what I was trying to get at in that other thread.

Trump's core supporters might consider him a stable genius, but nobody else does. And he ain't gonna win re-election with just his core supporters. That's maybe 30% of the voting population.

His "opposers" have always thought him an idiot, and will continue to do so.

Those in between will be unlikely to see him as some sort of political voodoo doctor. Trump's dysfunction goes far beyond the book, and his schoolyard retorts. It's becoming evident that Trump is dipping way down into banana republic dictator territory, in terms of his behavior. His advisors are fleeing him. Respectable lawyers won't take his business. Nobody will lend him money outside of Russian oligarchs who need a laundry boy. And he will undergo further and zanier gyrations in the months to come, as his family comes under legal jeopardy.

Q, not to distract from your thread (ok, maybe so) but before the election you said that if Trump won he would pull the right more to the left, I have not been a regular participant on the forum for several months but curious if you still feel that way?

Trump's core supporters might consider him a stable genius, but nobody else does. And he ain't gonna win re-election with just his core supporters. That's maybe 30% of the voting population.

His "opposers" have always thought him an idiot, and will continue to do so.

Those in between will be unlikely to see him as some sort of political voodoo doctor. Trump's dysfunction goes far beyond the book, and his schoolyard retorts. It's becoming evident that Trump is dipping way down into banana republic dictator territory, in terms of his behavior. His advisors are fleeing him. Respectable lawyers won't take his business. Nobody will lend him money outside of Russian oligarchs who need a laundry boy. And he will undergo further and zanier gyrations in the months to come, as his family comes under legal jeopardy.

I'm not suggesting this one issue is going to win Trump the election in 2020.

I'm saying this along with the 800 examples of exactly this are what is going to win Trump the re election.

FC ... again ... you and I are the aberrations. We are people who actually pay attention to this stuff. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how rare that is.

Trump is playing to the people who don't eat, breathe and shit politics. He's not playing to you and I. He's playing to the people who simply hear the "very stable genius" concepts on a surface level without actually knowing wtf people are talking about. And if you don't realize that is 80% of the American population I don't know what to tell you.

Yes, my 80% figure is Trumpian hyperbole. It's probably more like 50%. But the point is ... that's enough. (There's a lesson in there about Trump's use of hyperbole too)

That's great that everybody who voted against Trump is probably going to vote against him again in 2020. And heck, we might even get MORE people in California and New York to vote against him.

What's that get us again?

Your entire analysis of the Trump presidency in your final paragraph is built on that same fragile "could be, maybe, what if, possible" speculation I've been criticizing since Trump won the presidency. Insert my stock response to such speculation here (Make sure not to leave out that Fox News and right wing radio are still killin CNN and MSNBC in ratings)

Q, not to distract from your thread (ok, maybe so) but before the election you said that if Trump won he would pull the right more to the left, I have not been a regular participant on the forum for several months but curious if you still feel that way?

Oh absolutely. I just got into a conversation about that the other day.

But don't forget the other half of my equation. I said "I would rather Trump pull the Republicans further to the left than Hillary Clinton continue to push the Democrats farther to the right."

Opposition to NAFTA and trade agreements like TPP? Those are leftist issues.

Skepticism about American Imperialism? That's a leftist issue.

How's the war against the gays coming along? Feel any closer to abolishing abortion in America?

If you look more closely Americanmom, you can see the destruction of some of the more repellent right wing beliefs happening right before your eyes. I didn't say Trump would do it deliberately.

Oh absolutely. I just got into a conversation about that the other day.

But don't forget the other half of my equation. I said "I would rather Trump pull the Republicans further to the left than Hillary Clinton continue to push the Democrats farther to the right."

Opposition to NAFTA and trade agreements like TPP? Those are leftist issues.

Skepticism about American Imperialism? That's a leftist issue.

How's the war against the gays coming along? Feel any closer to abolishing abortion in America?

If you look more closely Americanmom, you can see the destruction of some of the more repellent right wing beliefs happening right before your eyes. I didn't say Trump would do it deliberately.

Queshank

while I admit he isn't as Conservative as I would of liked, he has exceeded my expectations by 90% of what i thought he would do. I expected much less out of him than he has done.. From Deregulations to appointing more Conservative judges, and of course, tax reform and killing the mandate... He is rolling along. I know a whole bunch of people who didn't vote for him for the reasons you point to (moving to the left) that will hands down vote for him next election because he is far more Conservative than we could have hoped for.

Maestro I've been thinking a lot about your suggestion that Trump's "insecurities" are his greatest weakness.

This latest go round is a perfect example of why I think his "insecurities" are his greatest strength.

People are now ... literally ... calling Trump a "very stable genius." It doesn't matter that his political opponents are doing it sarcastically. It really doesn't. His supporters aren't.

You're late to the party so you've probably missed my multiple posts pointing out how this is part of a strategy on his part. It's science and marketing.

Trump has now been branded as "Very Stable Genius." And the media helped him do it. Like they always ... crappity smacking ... do. This current flavor of the month Trumphatred will fade in time. What will people remember? What's the takeaway? Very Stable Genius. People will still be associating Trump with that 20 years from now.

This is an example of how thinking Trump's greatest strength is actually his greatest weakness damages the strategy of his opposition. If Trump's opposition is going to continue to be stupid enough to meet him on battlefields of his choosing ... they're going to lose. And that's what I was trying to get at in that other thread.

Queshank

Excuse me, but Trump called himself a very stable genius.

Definition of Stupid: Knowing the truth, seeing evidence of truth, but still believing the lie.

while I admit he isn't as Conservative as I would of liked, he has exceeded my expectations by 90% of what i thought he would do. I expected much less out of him than he has done.. From Deregulations to appointing more Conservative judges, and of course, tax reform and killing the mandate... He is rolling along. I know a whole bunch of people who didn't vote for him for the reasons you point to (moving to the left) that will hands down vote for him next election because he is far more Conservative than we could have hoped for.

Yeah the reality on the ground did change dramatically once 50% of the American people, 75% of the major media outlets, and 100% of the federal bureaucracy decided to act as if he wasn't really the president and "RESIST" his every move. When you consider such unprecedented opposition I must admit ... Trump's done a remarkable job. It helps that he seems to understand the role the president is supposed to play versus the role the Congress is supposed to play. And we have a pretty conservative Congress. (A Democrat would phrase that statement as "Trump's too lazy, incompetent and ignorant to do jack shit." Good times. Good times.)

It always amazed me that the same people who insisted Trump was completely lacking an ideology and "believed whatever the last person who talked to him said" weren't falling all over themselves to be the last person who talked to him. Talk about your missed opportunities in the name of blind partisanship.

The only "conservative" things Trump has done that disturb me center completely around Sessions abysmal actions as Attorney General. What a shit show of assaults on the concepts of individual liberty and personal freedom. But even then I can't get too worked up about the implicit "fascism" since Sessions is simply running the AG's office in the same manner both Democrats and Republicans have always done historically.

Once he accomplishes the liberal move of abolishing Obamacare ... the Republican inspired private insurance scam ... I'll consider Trump's presidency a success and really not give a shit about anything else he does or does not accomplish. My refusal to vote for Hillary centered more around her insistence that Obamacare needed to be expanded and what a terrible direction I've always thought that was to go in for the Democrats than anything else.

Hell if he accomplishes that ... I might actually vote for him in 2020. I expect to be living in a blue state by then.